Oblivious

All this week I've had to go downtown for a training class. It's cheaper and faster to take MARTA, the local subway, rather than fighting traffic all the way downtown and then still having to pay $5.00+ to park.
Today on the train the operator pushed down the intercom to announce a station and then accidentally left it on the whole trip. Consequently everyone on the train was allowed to hear all of the dispatch calls. There was a stalled train on another track, a panhandler at another station and some signal lights that weren't working properly. I thought it was kinda cool to hear what was going on behind the scenes. But, I overheard one passenger comment that she'd wished they'd turn that thing off.
Perhaps it is easier for some people to just go through life oblivious to the details around them. For them they probably gain more faith in the system by a quiet relatively uneventful ride. I don't share this philosophy. On the contrary, I was comforted to hear the details of the minor problems that they were working with. I think this is closer to reality. We're not on a flawless machine without any hiccups, but we are all trying to do our best to make the trip as smooth as possible. I gained more faith in the system not by the illusion that the system was flawless but, by the realization that the system had flaws and there were competent professionals working to correct the problems as fast as they can.